Can someone out please tell us why Rayon Sports and its officials never cease to be in the news, on most occasions for only the bad reasons? I find it flabbergasting that a club of such size and rich history, not to mention its unrivalled fan base, can fail to put its house in order or at least try and cover up their everlasting mess in the eyes of the outsiders. From time to time, you hear this and that is wrong at Rayon, that is not right at Rayon, so and so is bad at Rayon, players are not being paid at Rayon, the coach is demanding for unpaid salary at Rayon, club administrators are at loggerheads at Rayon, the fans want or don’t want this and that at Rayon, the list of negative publicity at Rayon is simply eternal. For six years I have been covering Rwandan football, I’ve seen little or nothing done by Rayon faithful to suggest their status as the second most successful football club in the country after APR or the most supported club in the region. You can go from Kigali to Nairobi, Kampala, Dar es Salaam, Bujumbura and you will not find a club that enjoys such fan base as Rayon does—not even Yanga, Simba, Tusker or even Express Fc come close to what Rayon enjoys in terms of following. But what beats my understanding is why, leaders of a club this big, famous and successful (though the latter has some question marks about it) have persistently failed to apply even the basics of running a football club without attracting unnecessary negative publicity? At Rayon, there are more questions than answers to everyday life and unfortunately, the situation doesn’t show any sign(s) of improving; instead it gets worse by the day.Does anybody out there remember the last time Rayon made an incident-free foreign trip? When they don’t fail to get passports for the players, they miss flights and when you think that’s not bad enough, they get stranded at foreign airports for lack visas when that is cleared; their players get drunk and misbehave at another foreign airport. Remember Phillip Gasana’s story and his misdemeanors at Addis airports? And when you think that they’ve finally sorted that out, now they are going to concentrate on improving their team so that it can challenge the likes of APR and Atraco, then players refuse to travel for the Cecafa club championship unless they’ve been paid their unpaid salaries! Something needs to be done and urgently by whoever is concerned to stop all these mambo jumbles, which if allowed to continue unabated, it’s the rather good image of Rwandan football that is bound to be affected. Let’s not forget the fact that, Rayon is very much purse and parcel of Rwandan football. A well organized and efficiently run Rayon Sport means better fortunes for not only the national team but football in this country and the region at large. Past success counts to nothing Regrettably, the club’s state of affairs in the last three to four years threatens to take the limelight away from the successes of yesteryears that include six league title, eight Rwandan Cups (initially Habyarimana Cup, which after the 1994 Tutsi Genocide became Peace Cup) and the one Cecafa club championship. Formed way back in 1968, Rayon won the league six time; in 1975, 1981, 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2004. They’ve been Rwandan cup champions in 1976, 1979, 1982, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1998, 2005 and they were the first Rwandan club to win Cecafa club title in 1998. Rayon have appeared in CAF Champions League five time; in 1998 (first round), 1999 (second round), 2001 (preliminary round), 2003 (first round) and 2005 (preliminary round). They also appeared in African Cup of Champions Clubs once in 1982 where they were eliminated at the preliminary round. The blues have represented Rwanda twice in CAF Confederations Cup in 2006 (first round), 2008 (second round) and CAF Cup also twice in 1993 (preliminary round) and in 2002 they reached the quarter-final, the furthest for any Rwandan club in continental competitions. In addition, Rayon have also made appearance in CAF Cup Winners’ Cup four; in 1990 (first round), 1994 (second round), 1996 (first round) and 2000 (second round). Putting all that together, you realize that Rayon is by far the most decorated club, not in terms of trophies but exposure, a record that all their local rivals APR inclusive can only look at with nothing but pure envy. Unfortunately, today’s world of football is fast changing, which means that, regardless of your past achievements, if you don’t move along with it, you’re bound to be left behind—and I fear, Rayon could be taking that direction. But what bothers people (except Rayon fans) is when they (Rayon) brag about their being a club with a rich pedigree not to mention their unrivalled fan base yet they can’t fulfill even the smallest of details that describe a big club!! Contact: nku78@yahoo.com
